I was very disappointed in 'The Confidential Agent". Graham Greene is one of my favorite writers and this book felt like it was written by someone trying to imitate him. An agent from an unnamed country, although presumably Spain, fighting in an unnamed war, and identified only as D. is sent to London to procure coal for the people fighting against the Fascists. And although it seems like an interesting idea for a book there was not even the hint of excitement. It just so happens on his journey to London D. meets the daughter of the minister with whom D. must negotiate to buy the coal. And despite the fact that she is a dish and he is described as older and dressed shabbily, she falls in love with him and always seems to turn up when he needs help. Which is like every chapter. Everyone D. comes in contact with seems to know he is an agent and conspires to thwart him. Anyone who assists him turns up dead. At one point he is outbid for the coal by a bidder claiming to represent the people but really represents the Fascists. So D. travels across England to the shuttered coal mine that will reopen to mine the coal. D. arrives to a depressed town suddenly filled with great joy as word spreads that the mine will reopen. Whereupon D. makes an appeal to the miners not to reopen the mine because the coal will be going to the Fascists not the people. Yeah, Richard Trumka would agree to that. And that's just it. The whole book is just so implausible that it didn't even seem like a Graham Greene book. "The Confidential Agent"? Confidentially, it stunk.

It's not perfect, but even Greene knew that. He wrote it in six weeks and wanted to publish it under a pseudonym. Characters conveniently and coincidentally bump into one another, a love story in the time frame of a couple of days, etc. But that being said, it's still some damn fine writing. I look forward to reading some of his more important works.

Great fun full of vivid characters, big ideas and beautiful writing. Greene wrote the kind of books I'd like to write: 'entertainments' (to borrow his word) with substance.

stars, stars, rating, rating... i can't rate this book!
it was interesting, it was fun to read, it was sad, it was unexpected (i didn't know that Graham Greene had written a book whose background was the Spanish Civil War! why didn't anybody tell me this!?), it was exasperating, it was a bit much, it was underwhelming, it was many things, that don't fit properly in a single star-rating that doesn't admit half-stars.

so Greene wrote this book in 1938, when Madrid was under siege, being bombed, and GB and the US were under the delusion that fascism would not have deleterious effects on the peace and prosperity of their own countries. and the Spanish Republic was tearing itself to pieces, with Soviet-backed communists and anarchists and socialists and syndicalists and moderate Republicans all in the same side, but wishing the others didn't really exist, and the Nationalist rebels receiving, covertly and openly, the assistance of the Nazis and arms from "private" sellers in "neutral" countries... and the Confidential Agent is trying desperately to fulfill the mission that the Republican government has given him, and Graham Greene does not know, when he is writing, in 1938, that the British, who look upon D as they would upon a being from another world (because he comes from a war-torn country, because he was buried under the rubble of a building for 3 days, because "civilization" seems to exist only in Great Britain, where normalcy prevails), will soon be experiencing some of what they regard as foreign: war, falling like missiles on their heads.

So this is a very interesting read, because Greene is comparing the two experiences, that of chaotic and war-torn Republican Spain and that of orderly Great Britain, as seen through the eyes of D., a former Romance Language university professor who was imprisoned, tortured, widowed, and traumatized by the war, and who feels like an alien in an alien planet in the streets of London... if D was a real person, and he survived the war and left Spain for Mexico, like so many intellectuals did, would be laugh at the London that had looked at him askance? Perhaps that coal that he was prevented from purchasing, perhaps many small decisions made in many places by many individuals and groups... of course, things could've gone differently for the Spanish Republic. For Spain. Forty years of dictatorship could've not happened, if only... If only...

But the romance part of the novel... I dunno. I can accept love at first sight in Jane Austen, because you can't date and you can't actually, you know, compare much, back in her day. But I am not sure that I like it in a book like The Confidential Agent... or most books, really. Especially that of young women who are lovely, falling in love with older men who aren't. I wish I could tell these male authors that they should question the girls' motives and poke fun at the male characters who do not question them... I think that I recently read a book in which this happens: the woman admits that she has "daddy issues", and the man wonders at the woman's "daddy issues"... but I don't think it was this one...

I am, however, very happy to have read this book. I keep forgetting that I love Graham Greene's writing and that he is underrated in ways that I do not understand. Is it because he was successful? Or Catholic? He isn't a genre writer, he wrote good books.

In this one, he was so sure that the Republicans would lose, he knew... it is so sad... poor D.

Intensely muddled story about a professor co-opted into his country's revolutionary government and sent to England to drum up aid for his people. Its a distinctly unsettling book- the main character is besought from all angles, but with no real clue as to who is pursuing him.
Greene is a master at making this level of instability and insecurity into a bleak and powerful story, much like the level of nervousness and self-loathing summoned by the Power and the Glory.

Не е от най-силните заглавия на Греъм, но безстрастната му, цинична яснота и съчувствие правят сюжета приятно преживяване.

Явна е референцията към Испанската гражданска война и двуличната роля на Англия в конфликта. Както и цялостното безразличие на доволните еснафи към всяко страдание и война, които са извън уютния им праг, и следователно не съществуват.

Звученето е изненадващо съвременно, като се има предвид, че заглавието е о�� 1939 г.

3,5⭐️

Graham Greene knows how to tell a story: fast-moving plot, reversals of fortune, chance meetings and plenty of action, moral struggles and women that fall head over heels for the protagonist (because why the hell not). Protagonist is flawed, haunted by the past and yet, ladies seem to be unable to resist him.
I wonder if he's able to sparkle in direct sunlight, 'cause that would explain a lot. OK, I jest. Good book, nice grimy atmosphere and direct imperative not to trust anyone. Mulder must have read it.

Terrific little read, a bit of a noir. It’s 1939 and D is a confidential (part spy, part purchasing) agent sent by the legitimate government of his country, which is two-years deep in a civil war, to England to buy coal necessary for the survival of its people—D’s friends and neighbors. He meets a young heiress on board ship. His enemies have also sent their agent to out maneuver D, thereby securing the coal contract for their benefit. As one might expect the lots of intrigue, duplicity, and romance but there’s also a dash of selflessness— yeah. Our hero is not a dashing James Bond like man’s man but a quiet, unassuming former university professor specializing in the Dark Ages in general and the French poem ‘The Song of Roland’ in specific.

Modern-day Alan Furst has been favorably compared to Graham Greene. I believe it is a fair comparison. 5 stars meaning it essential reading for those who love to read.

فکر کنم ضعیف تربن کتابی بود که تا حالا از گراهام گرین خواندم پس اگر تا حالا از گرین چیزی نخواندین بهتره با کارهای خوب دیگش مثل صخره برایتون یا سفرهایم با خاله جان یا آمریکایی آرام شروع کنید.

A good book but not a great one. Greene apparently wrote it over 6 weeks while on speed and had no idea how the plot was going to work out before he wrote it. He had the opening, and the rest sort of evolved. It is well-written, of course, but the plot is somewhat meandering and lacks a convincing arc. There are also many coincidences, most of them somewhat improbable.

Nonetheless, there is a world-weariness to it and Greene's acute observations on the naffness of Britain, which is probably why he chose to spend so much time out of the country. I enjoyed it, but there is something a bit wrong with a thriller if you can make the final 40 odd pages last several days. I was busy, it is true, but the story wasn't gripping in a page-turning sense. Still, by no means a dull read. I am going to follow this up with The Heart of the Matter. Greene obviously deserves to be read at length.

A 3.5-star book.

First published in 1939 (the first year of World War II) I found reading “The Confidential Agent” by Graham Greene relatively entertaining due to its seemingly remote setting which vaguely reminds its readers on the looming atmosphere of countries at war. However, we should read its Goodreads synopsis and introduction by Ian Rankin so that we get some background understanding, in other words, we have more light with essential information rather than keep reading like being in a dark tunnel and tediously reach nowhere.

I think it has an apt structure and I liked how the four-part story starts with ‘The Hunted,’ ‘The Hunter,’ ‘The Last Shot’ and ‘The End’ since each title obviously reveals the protagonist’s role and the heart of the matter. From this kind of structure, we can see that Mr Greene has designed something a bit more advanced and modern than others. I sometime read some spy novels by John le Carre and found his structure like this; however, I don’t know who first invented it in the writing world.

Incidentally, I would not try to tell you everything I think after reading this book, rather I would say something from what I scribbled in pencil of course on some pages with my remarks. For example, from this excerpts:

D. walked to the ditch where his coat lay; he couldn’t remember leaving it there near L.’s car – and his wallet too. He stooped and as he painfully straightened again he saw the girl – she had been sitting all the time in the back of L.’s Daimler. … She looked back at him through the glass with disgust; he realized that he was still bleeding heavily.
The manager said, ‘Leave Miss Cullen alone.’
He said gently, ‘It’s only a few teeth gone. A man of my age must expect to lose his teeth. Perhaps we shall meet at Gwyn Cottage.’ She looked hopelessly puzzled, staring back at him. … (pp. 38-39)

My point is that Mr Greene’s protagonist is quite different from Mr le Carre’s, I mean he seems timid, oldish and evasive (less action) but we have to be content with D., a former professor in medieval French, not a former soldier or secret agent. In the last sentence, it’s simply divine to find the adverb placed there like magic.

Intense Psychological Tale of Intrigue and Fear

Written by Greene in early 1939 as "entertainment," the author's code for money-making popular novels, the book was actually released in September 1939, just as Nazi Germany invaded Poland and began World War II. The book is loosely based on the Spanish Civil War that was just ending when Greene was completing his writing.

The story focuses on "D." the book's protagonist, who has been sent to England to acquire a secretive coal contract from a British coal mine. D.'s homeland is struggling in a civil war, forcing them to use him as a clandestine "confidential agent" to complete the covert agreement.

D. has recently lost his wife, shot as a political victim, and D. begins his mission as a broken man unsure of his own future. The story is told from D.'s perspective, creating a suspenseful thriller as he faces perpetual delays, barriers, threats, and betrayals from competing enemies and "friends," creating a hopeless and life-threatening situation for D.

Greene's storytelling creates a dark and stressful psychological drama, as D. passively tries to fulfill his ill-fated mission, hoping to succeed honorably against corrupt and greedy forces thwarting and frustrating D.'s every action and intension.

The novel's strength comes from the author's vivid narrative descriptions and dialogues amid D.'s desire is to do just one thing "right" on his quickly obvious suicidal mission. Never intended as a fast-paced, action book, the author uses a long-chapter format that draws out D.'s prolonged emotional deterioration and increased isolation amid impending failure. Why does he continue when he has nothing to live for? That's the heart of the story.

Typically of Graham Greene's signature flawed and hapless characters, much of the author's personal desperation and struggles are reflected in the storyline's fatalistic tone, while the overwhelmed protagonist dysfunctionally attempts to be honorable and just.

This book is a good example of why I like Graham Greene and his ability to write well even when he feels the story doesn't deserve the efforts.

I bought Audible's narration supplement separately because it wasn't offered as a linked purchase or interactive purchase; however, I greatly appreciated narrator's British accent and inflections that added depth to my reading enjoyment.

Definitely 4.5 Stars!